State minister for education yesterday got down from a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight at Zia International Airport knowing that the aircraft was a much-talked-about outmoded Advanced Turbo Prop (ATP).

Ehsanul Huq Milon, also the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker in charge of Nilphamari district, boarded the aircraft at about 10:30am. He was scheduled to attend an official programme in Syedpur at noon. When Milon came to learn the plane was an ATP, he quickly came out of the aircraft with his family members saying that he was not ready to take any risk and later started his journey by road.

Talking to the UNB, Milon expressed his dismay over the operation of ATP planes in Biman's fleet.

Milon and his family members had escaped an accident a few months ago when they were on an ATP aircraft on way to Syedpur.

The ATP aircraft drew nothing but complaints since those were added to Biman's fleet in the late 80's. Biman currently operates two ATP aircraft.

Mahmudur Rahman, Biman's marketing and sales director, said there is no specific plan to stop operation of the passenger planes.